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Construction Worker Rescued From 55 Foot Hole At Carrollton School

CARROLLTON (CBSDFW.COM) – Fire rescue crews pulled a construction worker out of a 55-foot hole nearly 90 minutes after he stumbled and fell into it.

The construction worker is a 19-year-old employee with subcontractor Texas Shafts Inc, which was hired by the company responsible for the construction project at the R.E. Good Elementary School campus, Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District officials said.

The initial emergency call said the man was working inside a trench when it collapsed. The man had, in fact, toppled into a hole that was drilled into the ground for a concrete pier.

Assistant Chief Gregg Salmi said fire fighters were able to speak to the trapped man when they arrived at the scene. The worker was rescued at 4:40 p.m., nearly 90 minutes after the man fell into 33 inch wide hole.

“Coppell brought out their system that would pump air into the hole, so we could make sure he had plenty of oxygen to breathe. We lowered a hard hat down to him in case anything fell down on him,” Salmi said.

The man was taken to Parkland Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, a Texas Shafts spokesman said.

“We don’t believe he’s wedged, we do have one of our firefighters down in the hole trying to put a harness on him,” Salmi said at about 4:30 p.m. “We will use a pulley system to try and lift the man out of the hole.”

Temperatures were near 103 degrees Fahrenheit Wednesday afternoon.

“He went down with a harness. He was able to put that on the patient. He maintained verbal contact with the whole time,” Salmi said.